


What It Feels Like To Be Asthmatic- Choking on Air

by mcyeet



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Bisexual Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Bottom GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Boys In Love, Dream Team SMP Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Team Week (Video Blogging RPF), Dreorge, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship / Flirting / Thinking of You Fest, Gay GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Gay Panic, Georgewastaken, Gream - Freeform, I'm snowed in, Light karlnap, M/M, Minor Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Romantic Friendship, Tags Are Hard, Top Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Twink Georgenotfound, angsty boyos, bestfriends, dream team, dreamnotfound, karlnap, someone help me tag this, tags are weird, tiktok made me do it, what are these tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:09:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcyeet/pseuds/mcyeet
Summary: George finally meets up with Dream after talking about it for years, he struggles to keep his feelings under wraps as Dream makes it more and more impossible. (This is me writing a fic after seeing way too many one-shot ideas on TikTok so I decided to pile a bunch of them together. )*I don't ship the Content Creators just their in-game personas and if any of them say they're uncomfortable with fanfic I will remove it*
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Dream x Georgenoutfound, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 37
Kudos: 165





	1. First Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> I want to update regularly but I do get distracted way too easily so be warned if this fic becomes inconsistent. Also, I wrote this because of a big snowstorm so I didn't have any other options, tiktok made me do it.

The humid wave of Floridian air hitting him immediately, a very welcome change compared to the stale cabin air he had been stuck in. George couldn’t be more excited as he stepped off the plane.

“Local time; 10:30 pm in Orlando Florida.” The feminine robotic voice rang out through the intercom system.

The anticipation of seeing Dream and Sapnap in person had given him the perfect boost of adrenaline to help him stay awake as he filtered himself through the crowded airport. He couldn’t wait to meet Clay, his faceless best friend who he may or may not have developed romantic feelings for.

He _had_ seen Dream’s face before. Through a blurry picture from Snapchat but nonetheless a picture. He knew his best-friend was good-looking, George just needed to see it for himself.

He took out his phone, quickly scrolling through the contacts before settling on Dream. Pressing the call button with unsteady hands.

The voice on the other came across immediately.

“George! Did you land yet?” The excited tone was evident in Dream’s voice.

“Yeah dumbass, come get me please.”

A small wheeze buzzed through the phone’s speaker.

“Alright, what gate are you at?”

“I don’t know, the one from the UK I guess…”

“Wow so helpful Mr. Blue sweatshirt.” George could imagine the cocky grin that must have plastered Dream’s face as George spun around looking for him.

“Wait… How…Where-can you see me?” Scrambling to figure out how Dream knew, he heard the familiar beeps signalling the call had ended. An abrupt voice spoke just behind him.

“Yeah, I can see all four feet of you.” The familiar gravelly voice rang out with a clarity George had never heard before.

Spinning on his heels he came face to face with a dirty-blond man wearing a mischievous smirk.

“DREAM!” He squealed, throwing his arms around the taller boy without hesitation. The boy huffed a short laugh, sending vibrations through the hug before he wrapped his own arms around George, encompassing the shorter boy in the pleasant smell that belonged to Dream.

George held on tightly, clinging to the fabric of the hoodie Dream was wearing. As if it would all disappear if he let go.

“I’m not four feet,” he grumbled in the younger boy's chest.

“Next to me, you might as well be,” Dream exclaimed with a cockiness that George had come to know.

“You can look at me, ya know.” He continued with a light chuckle.

George moved his head without releasing Dream from his grasp, turning his neck so his chin still sat on the cotton of Dream’s sweater. Taking in Dream’s face, like the photo he’d seen, Dream had golden eyes and a face littered with freckles. The shade of his eyes just slightly different than that of his hoodie, which after taking a closer look at was his own merch. He looked mesmerizing in person, George had to take a couple of seconds to acknowledge his looks.

“You look… Really good.” He explained sounding dumbfounded.

Dream shook from another laugh,

“I know George that’s why the internet will never see my face, they’d all fall in love with me. There wouldn’t be enough of me to go around. None for you to have.”

George felt the blush crawl upon his cheeks and proceeded to turn his face to look away from Dream’s gaze. Rubbing his cheek over Dream’s hoodie.

“Shut up Dream.” He said into the smiley face on the taller boy's chest.

“If you don’t mind calling me Clay in public, it’s just the whole face reveal a thing.”

“Oh yeah… No problem. _Clay_.” George mocked in an American accent.

“Don’t be weird about it. Come on Gogy, did you get your bags yet?” _Clay_ said looking down at George leaning backwards to slightly break away from the hug.

“ _Nooooo_ , I don’t really need them, I just want to take nap,” George whined as he forced himself to tear away from Drea- No _Clay’s_ grasp.

“You can nap when we get back to my house, we can get you in a proper bed.”

“I just realized how tired I am, I have been up for like… 26 hours.”

“Alright let’s get your bags Gogy,” Clay said dropping his voice down an octave to catch George’s attention.

After a hard blink to try and wake himself up George looked back up at Clay. Making George painfully aware that they were still in the middle of an airport.

“Yeah… Ok, I think it’s the third one…” George yawned before finishing off his sentence.

The pair walked towards the baggage carousel and George pointed out his bags and Clay happily picked them off the conveyor belt and set them upright beside George.

“I could’ve got those…”

“Yeah but you didn’t, that’s why you _neeeeed meeee_ Gogy. Your knight in shining armour!”

“You have too much energy right now.” George retorted.

“Oh Gogy, it’s only like 10 pm,” Clay called out in a sing-song tone that made George want to hit him, had it been earlier in the day he probably would have to.

“Christ… Let me suffer in peace.”

“Hmm… Nah. There’s no fun in that.”

Smirking, Clay started walking off with George’s bags and George absent-mindedly followed like a small puppy. After a few minutes, the pair found themselves entering the muggy air of an above-ground parking lot.

“Where’s your car?”

“Ah well, my _caw is oveh thare._ ” Clay mocked in a British accent, pointing over to a small blue Mercedes.

George mentally approved of the car, it was a nice blue and the car’s headlights made out a happy face, which just made sense in his sleep-deprived state. He headed over to the passenger seat on the right side and was suddenly stopped.

“No, not happening.” Clay said placing a hand on George's shoulder.

The confused look on George's sleep-deprived face must have come across because Clay quickly corrected himself.

“That’s the driver's side, go to the other side if you want to sleep.” Clay gave George a soft smile as he popped the trunk and piled up George’s bags, releasing his shoulder in the process.

“Forgot Americans were weird,” he sighed as he walked around, just wanting to get off his feet.

Opening and closing the door, flopping onto the seats of the car and curling up. Hearing the soft noises of the trunk closing and the faint footsteps of Dream walking around to the driver’s side door. George closed his eyes and relaxed into the smell of the car, a smell of leather and fried chicken which seemed fitting.

“Huh already…” Clay murmured to himself quietly, taking note of George curled up like a kitten.

The click of the seatbelts and the flick of the ignition were the last recognizable things George heard before he was lulled into sleep.

Clay’s surprisingly good driving was perfect, the subtle sway and shake of the car made George's stomach fill with calm butterflies as the tight corners would slightly push him around his seat. George came to a state of consciousness as the streetlights flickered in through the window, moving slightly to sit upright.

Becoming aware of the low-fi music streaming from the radio, so quietly that any movement would have overpowered it or made it too hard to hear.

“Awake there?” Clay asked in a quiet tone.

“Yeah… How long was I out for?” George slurred in a groggy voice.

“I dunno, around midnight or so? We’re about 5 minutes from the house”.

“Oh…Ok” George managed to say before he was interrupted by a short yawn.

Clay whispered in a low level almost unintelligible like it wasn’t meant for George’s ears. “You’re so cute,”.

George shifted so his elbow leaned against the car door, to better see the window.

“I know Dream,” the snide remark had George smirking, proud of himself in the sleep impaired state, pleased that he made Dream go quiet.

The next two minutes of silence George spent watching the houses outside his car window blur together. Watching and taking note of the different shapes and styles of housing, wider and lower to the ground than the London houses he was used to.

The dark streets would’ve been eerie if it weren’t for brightly coloured mailboxes and the bright white lights that illuminated the rain trough on one in every ten houses they passed.

The car rounded a sharp turn and George felt a strong handhold him in place, he looked over to Clay again. Clay hadn’t realized that his hand was still holding George’s chest in place, his eyes still focused ahead of him on the road. George felt safe, he was comfortable with the contact. He sighed in contentment; _this is nice_.

The small sigh must have caught Clay, as he looked back at George and removed his hand, the latter had to hold in a whine at the loss of touch. Watching Clay’s face carefully, unable to tell if there was a blush or not with the orangey streetlamps.

The only turned a couple more times before it pulled into the driveway of a warm-looking house, it looked big compared to George’s small semi-detached home but average compared to the others on the street.

“Alright Gogy we’re here, I think Sapnap’s in bed,” Clay huffed in a low voice as he let the car roll back with a lack of motion.

“Can you just carry me in?” George said half-joking.

“Sure, but I’ll use it against you later.” Clay remarked with a small chuckle. Opening his door with a click.

“I don’t really care right now I’m too tired.” Accentuating his tiredness with a perfectly timed yawn.

“Have it your way.” The car door shut.

Clay popped open the trunk and got George’s bags, taking them to the front door and unlocking it, placing the bags in the entryway as he came back to pick up George.

The knock on George’s door caught him off guard, shuffling his back against the chair.

“Come on sleeping beauty,” the taller teased as he unbuckled George and scooped him up in a Koala hug.

“Now you can be my knight in shining armour, take me to your castle,” George mumbled quietly into Clay’s neck.

“Oh so now you’ll let me be your loyal servant,” the vibrations hitting George through the embrace.

“Mhmm, you had to prove you could protect me.”

“God, you’re such a twink.”

“Am not.”

“No, I think you are,” the smirk on his face audible in his tone, he continued, “it would kill the Dreamnotfound fans if they saw us like this.”

Clay stopped walking as he opened the door, carrying George into the cool air conditioning that made it just a bit harder to keep his eyes open.

“Ha, they would explode LMAO!”

“Did you just say the acronym, George I’m literally holding you? You’re a different kind of dumb.” The tone was mocking but Clay rustled George’s hair in a loving fashion, showing the small boy he didn’t really mean it.

“Oh yeah well you’re a different kind of stupid so we’re even.”

“Hmmph I wouldn’t be talking like that if I were you, I could just drop you.”

The door was then closed with a swift series of clicking noises.

“You wouldn’t dare,” George mumbled into Clay’s neck, breathing in deeply just taking in the musky smell of Clay.

“Oh but I could.” he removed a hand from George’s lower back teasing him.

“I don’t have enough brain cells to do this right now, don’t drop me.”

“I don’t think you can make demands right now Georgie.” His low laugh vibrating his chest once more.

“Just take me to a bed pleeeeease, I just want to sleeeeeep.” Georges whining won over Clay's hand, warming up the spot it left.

“Taking you to bed already, Gogy what kind of girl do you take me for?” Clay teased as they walked up the stairs to the second floor.

“Claaaaay I want to sleep.”

“Fine,” Clay pushed open the door they were about to walk into, holding Georges's head with his right hand so he could use his elbow to push the door. Flicking on dim blue lights before taking a few more steps forward so he could drop George onto the sheets.

“George you have to let go a little bit.” His voice dropping low again.

George let go quickly, slightly embarrassed that he had to be told. The cool sheets felt quite relaxing as he fell back and spread out his hands stretching out.

“Where’s your room?”

“This is my room,” Clay chuckled.

“Then where are you going?” George squeaked out trying not to portray concern in his voice.

“I dunno maybe the couch downstairs. Oh! The bathroom is just over there.” He pointed over to a white door on the right side of the bed.

George grabbed his hand, a little too tired to think through what he was doing. Pulling Clay’s hand towards his chest so he could get Clay to watch him.

“Noooo.” He whined the moment he and Clay locked gaze, George liked the way the other’s face changed to a new confused expression, one he had only imagined in voice calls.

“Just get in the bed with meeee, I won’t bite.” He continued pleading.

“Aw, Gogy you’re gonna freak out if you wake up in a bed beside this hot mess,” Clay smugly announced, removing his hand from George’s grasp so he could point to himself.

“Oh, come on I’m better than any couch,” George protested grabbing Clay's hand again in an effort to pull him in.

“Oh, if you insist princess,” the soft blue light illuminating the crooked smirk Clay wore on his face.

“Get over yourself and come here.”

Clay removed his hand once more and walked backwards a couple of steps before turning around. He took off his shirt, doing that kind of hot thing that guys do, where they bunch up fabric behind their head before pulling it off in a swift motion. Giving George an extra few seconds to stare at Clay's muscles, which were quite prominent even though the boy was a Minecraft streamer for God’s sake.

“Like what you see?” Clay teased.

George inwardly cursed at being caught looking but quickly retorted. “No, I’m just looking to see what the hell is taking you so long.”

“Just get over here,” he tried to say confidently, but George’s voice betrayed him by going a couple of octaves higher than it needed to.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll get the Dream special soon enough,” Clay said with way too much confidence.

George rolled over to shove his face into the cool white pillows, hiding his blush as he felt it crawl up.

“Just get in the bed now so you don’t shake it while I’m sleeping,” George squawked, half-muffled by the pillow.

“Aw Gogy are you embarrassed?”

“No Clay, I’m fucking tired come over already!”

With that Dream climbed onto the bed and picked up the sheets, forcing George to do the same and sit up to move the sheets.

“Demanding huh?”

“I’m just sleepy, let me rest in peace.” He groaned tired of meaningless flirty conversation.

“Just come here, I’m cuddly in my sleep but you chose this, alright?” Clay pulled George in tightly.

“Hmmph alright, you big piss baby.” 

George hadn’t fully processed how big Dream was, but he felt absolutely tiny in the younger's hold. George found himself uncomfortable at first but was easily lulled to sleep by the rhythmic feeling of Clay’s breathing, the highs and lows of his chest against George’s own back.

True to his own word Dream curled into George throughout the night, reeling him back to consciousness. Perhaps he had a nightmare or something, but Clay kept whispering to himself throughout the night something about ‘hiding them away’ and ‘keeping them close’. George didn’t quite know who _they_ were, but he still liked Clay’s hold.

It sort of pained George to know Clay was holding him so intimately while thinking of someone else, but George had come to terms with the fact his best friend was straight. It was ok, this friendly bliss was all he needed.

Life was cruel to George in all the wrong ways, it was like going to a store but the only shirt you want to buy isn’t available in your size. The reasonable thing to do would be to buy the shirt in another colour or size or to not buy anything at all. That was what it felt like with Dream. Clay offered the relationship in another way and George would take whatever he could get, what George got was a best friend instead of a boyfriend and that was still good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are everything so feel free to tell me any thoughts or ideas!


	2. Breakfast and A Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George gets himself into a challenge he shouldn't have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little blocky, I used it as a setup chapter bc I have some angst planned for the next. Originally I wrote this chapter from Dream’s P.O.V. but my laptop updated in the middle of the night and erased it, so I redid it in George’s P.O.V. for maximum angst. Sorry, it took longer than planned.

George woke up with a small flash of bright light, he took a few moments to recuperate. Quickly remembering last night and realizing that the thing attached to him was Clay, giving him a tight bear hug.

He felt vibrations from Clay, slowly realizing that he was talking.

“Fucking hell Nick, let me sleeeeeep.”

“I wanted to capture this moment foreveeer, look at Gogy and you!”

“You have the rest of the week to torment him, don’t harass him in his sleep. That’s like the bare minimum of human decency.” Clay defended in a groggy tone.

“Well who said I have to be a decent human?” The smirk was evident in Nick’s voice.

“It’s too early for this shit, go away.”

“Aw, I love you too! But, Clay I already let you guys sleep in, it’s like 10 am.”

George didn’t hear an immediate reply from Clay, so he slowly blinked his eyes open, with perfect timing too, he saw Sapnap get clobbered down by an airborne pillow that Clay had thrown.

“That’s it the photo is going to the group chat.”

“Jesus… At least let me see what damage you’re about to cause.” Clay got up from his position how he had been horizontally hugging the Brit. Lightly shaking the bed as he steadied himself.

Sapnap came forward picking up his phone from where it had been forgotten in his pants.

“Just look how precious you guys are… Karl needs to see it.”

Clay took the phone in hand to get a better look, zooming in on the picture that George couldn’t fully see. His expression softened as he looked at the image, a small smile settling in.

He swiftly glided his fingers across the phone screen, a mischievous grin spreading on his face.

“Gone!”

“You bitch!” Nick almost screamed, startling George from whatever tired state he was in.

“Fucking idiot you didn’t erase it from recently deleted!” Nick continued as he quickly snatched his phone back and bolted out of the bedroom door.

Clay didn’t seem to have a coherent response to that as he turned around and groaned, lightly flipping the sheets off his legs and finally getting out of bed. George shut his eyes pretending to stay asleep, deciding that at the moment that was the best idea, he didn’t really have the patience to deal with Sapnap’s high energy levels just yet.

Dream picked up the sheets he had ruffled and tucked them in around George, creating a makeshift blanket hug.

George heard Clay rummage through some clothes before exiting the room, George took a minute or two before following suit. Going downstairs and getting his luggage, he hauled his three bags up the stairs, silently hoping he didn’t break anything with the loud clattering noises from inside the suitcase with his streaming equipment.

He got dressed and splashed water on his face, he decided to wear an oversized hoodie from Karl and a pair of navy-blue skinny jeans. The short boy went down the stairs again and tried to figure out his way to the kitchen, the exploring process didn’t last long as he caught Sapnap’s eye and was pulled into a sightly suffocating hug.

“George you’re awake!!”

“Morning Sapnap.”

“Gogy look!” Nick said as he placed his hand on George’s head and brought it to his own forehead.

“You are shorter! How does it feel to be the smallest in the Dream team?”

“Why are you so meaaaan, it’s so early and you’re bullying me already.”

“Can I win your love back? With diabetes-inducing waffles perhaps?” Nick claimed with a stupid grin on his face.

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach-” Quickly interrupted as Clay approached rapidly from the hallway.

“George I thought I was the only gamer boy for youuuuuuu.” The blond whined dropping to his knees in mock devastation, making the shortest of the three panic.

“Aw, Dreamy-poo I would never get rid of you,” George replied without a beat of hesitation.

“Hell, if your pet names are as bad as ‘Dreamy-poo’ I don’t think I want to win over your heart.” Sapnap proclaimed as he faked a disgusted look.

“Sapnapykin are you perhaps…Jealous?” Clay added in.

“No! Not you too! I need Karl. I can’t with you two.” With that last comment, Nick turned and went back up the stairs to call Karl in peace, leaving Clay and George hysterically laughing at his panicked expression. George found that he liked Dream’s kettle wheeze much better in person, it shook the ground in a way that was just comforting.

As George reclaimed his power to breathe normally, he turned to Dream, opening his mouth to speak but being instantly interrupted by his stomach's hungry growl.

“Nick made breakfast in the kitchen,” Clay said with a small smile, tilting his head in the direction the brunet guessed to be the kitchen.

They walked into the small modern kitchen, finding two filled plates left behind. As Nick had promised, heavily decorated waffles sat on the plates. The meal looked like something from a Pinterest mom’s dream, with picturesque, whipped cream in a perfect spiral and heart cut strawberries at the sides.

George held in a small chuckle as he asked, ”Dream, Nick made this right? Like gruesome Texas manly man Nick?”

Clay let out a laugh, “Yeah, guy cooks like a southern mom, be thankful. If I cooked it would’ve ended up with L’manberg the sequel, except it would have been the dusty remains of this kitchen and not a Minecraft server.”

“Note to self; do not let Clay cook,” George murmured to himself, Resulting in Dream letting out another kettle wheeze.

George turned around taking the plate with more whipped cream but less actual waffle. Heading to the stools that he noticed underneath the side of the countertop, pulling out the seat and climbing on. Clay pulled out a stool beside George and took his place. George immediately began, digging in and eating three full Belgian waffles in less than five minutes, his stomach grateful. 

“You should get Sapnap to teach you how to cook, this is the best.” The Brit said as he licked his fork clean. Eyeballing Clay’s last waffle, hoping the taller boy would hand it over.

“Who needs to know how to cook when Uber eats exists?”

“I dunno Dream, I guess… THE REST OF THE POPULATION!”

With George's small outburst Clay fell to his knees laughing.

“But I have Nick and you.”

“Yeah for now,” George said absentmindedly as he sat up from his chair to pull Clay’s waffle onto his own plate.

“For now? Why not forever?” Dream cried, aiming pathetic puppy eyes towards the older boy.

George felt his cheeks warming up again. Unsure if he felt embarrassed about stealing the waffle, or if it was because Clay looked cute doing the puppy dog eyes.

Dream continued, “I mean you were planning to move to the U.S. eventually right?”

“Eventually, not quite yet. You need to learn how to fend for yourself, you big baby.”

The embarrassment quickly fled as George went back to inhaling Belgian waffles.

“Wow, George insulting your host now? How rude!” Sapnap declared making his reappearance in the room known.

Clay turned to face the youngest, “I thought you were calling Karl?”

“Yeah, but I got a weather alert so the call got cut off.”

“Tornado or just storm?”

George was a little disturbed by how calm the interaction was, _shouldn’t a severe weather alert be a little bit more concerning?_ He thought to himself.

“Tropical storm, just like flood warning I think.”

“Alright, I’ll check the gutters later. I guess indoor stuff for the next couple of days, what are ya thinkin’?” Dream said just noticing that his last waffle was missing and that another had miraculously appeared on George’s plate. Shooting the smaller boy a glare.

Sapnap paused, “Movie marathon?”.

“Oh! Clay you still owe me $50 from the last one.”

The colourblind boy wiped his face off, “How did Clay lose money over a movie marathon?”.

Clay scoffed and replied, “It’s a stupid thing we do, make bets on the characters.”.

“How did you lose fifty thought?”

Sapnap held a chuckle, knowing what Dream was going to say.

“I lost fifty because we were watching a horror movie, and I said the guy that looked like me was too good looking to die.”

Sapnap nudged him on, “And…”

Clay huffed, looking done with the conversation already. “The guy died in the first ten minutes.”

George tried to stifle a giggle but caved into a laughing mess, Nick laughing alongside him.

“Laugh all you want now, but when the creepy dolls get possessed, I will prove both of you wrong.”

Sapnap looked at Clay amused like Clay was a little kid explaining how his imaginary friend acts. Letting Clay finish his mini-speech before butting in.

“Never in a million years, I gotta tell you the secret, the second hottest girl and the morally aligned guy. They make it to the end and fall in love because of their shared trauma. Every time.”

“Newsflash you’re both wrong, guess we’ll need to settle it fair and square.” The subtle smirk spreading across George’s face, taking the place of the confused expression he wore moments ago.

Clay looked at both of them, “Fine give me an hour for storm prep, I’m winning my money back Nick”.

Sapnap looked pleased with that, a cocky grin spreading from cheek to cheek, “Not a chance”.

George was unable to decipher the stare going on between the two. “Then it’s settled, as the neutral party I get to pick the movie.”

“Sure, beginners choice.” The Texan announced.

“Oh, it’s on,” Clay announced in competition before leaving the room.

With only a minute of conversation, the room had dispersed, leaving George to move his plate into the sink. George was left to himself, almost regretting the challenge he had just made. George started mentally cursing himself out, realizing that the movie marathon would end poorly.

To George’s family and close friends back home it was no secret, George was terrible with horror movies. He was the kind of person to watch them for fun but shake and flinch at every small jump scare.

To add fuel to the fire, he was going to be watching horror movies with Dream and Sapnap. Nonetheless, George could tell the movie marathon was going to be interesting, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticism are everything! I really appreciate the supportive comments from the last chapter, thanks for reading!


	3. Movie night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movie time for the bois.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I'll have regular updates, I have midterm marks and stuff rn but I'm trying to do once a week.

When the three boys met again, they piled themselves onto the long couch that sat in the homely-looking living room. If you stood in front of the couch facing the boys you would see; Sapnap on the far left (so he could get up and pee without walking in front of the screen), Clay placed in the middle as he declared it was the best seat (with the best seat for the surround sound speakers placed throughout the room), and George on the right curled up on the armrest with a blanket. As it was the only noon the blackout curtains had been pulled across, leaving the room in perfect movie viewing conditions.

Nick had previously declared that if they were going to be watching horror movies all day that had to start small and work up, so that’s what the group decided on.

A bowl of buttered popcorn sat between Dream and Sapnap, untouched as the trio flipped through Netflix and its selection of horror movies. Decidedly starting with Monster House, as everyone had already seen the movie Clay mentioned it could be a good warmup for some of the other movies down the line.

Following Monster House, the group watched some unknown horror movie and Sapnap reaped in $75 seeing as he guessed the survivors correctly, Clay was totally amiss and had to cough up 50, George got one of them right but still had to hand over 25 bucks seeing as he was only half right. The group took an intermission before returning to their spots on the couch. They returned to watch another movie that none of them had ever heard of George won the round of guessing entirely and pulled in $100 American.

The next movie in their queue was The Shining, one of George’s all-time favourites. He had seen the movie at least twenty times. Nonetheless, he still buried his face in the blanket at all the pop-ups and jump scares, causing Nick and Clay to burst out laughing at their older friend’s reaction. By the time the credits roll up on the screen George is shaking, and Nick wasted no time pointing it out. “Georgenotcalm? Damn Gogy, you’re shaking more than the trees outride right now!”

“I know, I know I’m just terrible with horror movies, I love them, but I just get jittery from all the scares,”

The sneaky comment reminded George of the raging storm outside. He turned to his left where the covered window sat, he peeled back the curtains and saw the palm trees outside violently swinging.

The sky outside filled with heavy dark clouds that looked almost furious, the clouds rolled like ocean waves, clinging to the atmosphere holding them in. “Hey what time is it?”. Nick sighed as he moved to uncover his phone. “Around seven, what do you guys want for dinner?”.

The group decided on freezer-ready dino nuggets for dinner, each person feeling a bit lazy after a day of binging movies and dino nuggets seemed like the perfect answer.

After dinner, Sapnap mentioned that he was going to join Karl’s stream, something to do with Tales of the SMP that George didn’t fully understand.

“Alright go have fun with your boyfriend,” Dream teased.

“He’s not- Karl isn’t…Well have fun on your little date without me!” Nick winked as he left the room, leaving George blushing in his wake. Clay wheezed as the Texan left the room, never denying the blonde’s claim.

Once he finally composed himself he looked over to George, “Alright hot stuff, what movie do you want next?”.

“Ever seen The Ring?”

The two settled back into their original positions on the couch as George flickered through the search bar, picking out the movie. Pressing play before leaning across Dream to reach the popcorn bowl Sapnap had abandoned, “Hey, you can’t just steal all the popcorn!”.

“Oh really, I thought I just did.”

“Little gremlin!”

Clay shifted to steal the bowl back but George shot out his hand.

“No-Look the movie is starting!”

“You cracker!”

“Shhhh… watch,” one of George’s small hands stuck out in front of Clay's mouth to shush him.

The smaller boy almost immediately regretted it as he felt the younger’s warm breath on his hand, he felt a similar heat spread across his face burning a light blush.

As if Dream just couldn’t resist he looked at George, his gaze burning. Then George felt the slimy touch; “DREAM! Gross this is gross.”. George retracted his hand and analyzed it quickly before extending it out and wiping the spit back onto Dream’s side.

“You licked me! You actually licked me!”

“Oh come on now, you shushed me. Like a little kid or something.”

“Because you were interrupting the movieeeeeee. I have to rewind it now, you missed the good intro bit.”

“Rewind then, but no stealing the popcorn, just sit closer if you’re going to be a bowl hog.”

“Fine.”

George said it with conviction but made no effort to move just crossing his arms, to which Clay responded by wrapping his left arm around George’s waist and pulling him in. When George was flush against the American’s body the delicate atmosphere was broken, as Dream didn’t hesitate to crush the small boy as he leaned over to recover the forgotten bowl.

“You’re going to squish meeeee,” Dream let out another breathy wheeze in response as he began to upright himself, shaking George’s core with whatever chemical it is that makes one happy.

“You weren’t going to do anything on your own, sometimes you just need to be squished.” Clay’s bright smile was like the cherry on top, George felt like he’d been winded.

In a short wave of panic George sprawled out to reclaim the remote from its discarded spot on the couch, the brit pressed rewind, setting back the movie about fifteen seconds, “Stop interrupting!”.

Clay let out another short laugh as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth. The two settled into a comfortable silence as the movie loaded back, George still leaning against Dream’s side now sharing the small fuzzy blanket.

The first forty-five minutes of the movie went by quickly as the storyline set itself up, introducing the main character and the plot. George knew the movie well enough to know when the jump scares would happen and he apprehensively tightened his grip on the blanket each time, turning into Clay’s side to avoid the jump scares. Each time Dream would laugh lightly before rubbing a hand over the shorter man’s back.

“You can’t just shove your face in my ribcage whenever you get scared.” Clay wheezed, petting the Brits' hair.

“Well, I think it’s working just fine for now.” His eyes still focused shifting from the large TV to look up at Clay.

“Aw, come here already. You’re going to stick your head in my armpit if you keep going.”

His shaking stopped abruptly, as he instantly focussed on the strong hands gripping his sides. George felt the blonde’s large hands shift him up, moving him onto the larger man’s lap so he was just about straddling him. George felt the blood drain from his face and run south, his mind ran blank as he tried to process what was happening. “W-what…h-how am I supposed to see the movie?”.

Clay’s hands had let go of the other’s sides and now held the colorblind boy’s shoulders to force eye contact.

“Georgie, you practically memorized it, you know what’s going to happen before it happens. You’re terrified!”

The touches from Clay only felt like sparks across George’s skin, the Brit felt all the heat pool in his crotch, the act wasn’t really inherently sexual but with George’s touch starved self it felt way more intimate than it was probably meant to be.

“That’s because it’s a good movie!” He managed to sputter out.

George felt his cock slowly hardening and knew that if he moved off Clay’s lap the taller boy would feel it, that wasn’t something that he wanted to happen now, or like, ever. With a thousand thoughts flooding into his head, he tried to keep a steady flow of consciousness; _Dream is just my best friend, I’m scared so he’s holding me, my straight best friend, just my best friend being friendly. This is a friendly friend thing, he’s just a touchy person, I was shaking, this is what you do when your friends are shaking_.

Clay offered a joking smile, “Fine, I can let go and put you back down, but… you have to release your death grip on the blanket because you’re not sharing it.”

The inner chant was semi-effective, George felt himself calm down as he concentrated on willing his erection away.

“Ugh f-fine, I’m only staying here because you’re warmer than the blanket.”

“Alright suit yourself.”

And with that George set his chin to rest on the broad shoulders of his _best friend_ , his nose in the crook of the other's neck, breathing in the other’s smell and feeling it coat his lungs with the intoxicating smell that was Dream. 

He could feel Clay’s breath on his own back, the warm air sending a shiver down his spine, the shiver would have been noticeable if it hadn’t been for the dramatic change in music that came from the movie still playing behind him.

After finally calming down he set his head on its side, tuning out the sounds of the horror movie, he wrapped his hands around Dream’s neck. Perhaps it was the residual exhaustion from his flight the day before or maybe it was just the feeling of being so small and protected by Clay’s grasp and steady hands, but George quickly drifted off to a night of quiet sleep.

Dream P.O.V

Clay felt as the small body slowed down in its shaking, the quick breaths reaching a steady pace. Clay wouldn’t admit it but the movie was a little bit scary for his own liking, having George’s chest pressed against his was grounding and nice.

As George finally fell asleep Clay wrapped his arms around his encasing the smaller in a hug. As the creepiest scene began to play and a dark figure crawled through a 50’s style TV in the movie, Dream decided he had had enough of the movie and quietly turned it off, trying to move as little as possible to let George sleep.

After all the stopping and starting of the movie it was around 11, the movie had started around 8 but George kept insisting on rewinding the scenes if they were interrupted, claiming they _needed to hear the important dialogue._ The movie was just under two hours long and they were really only at the hour and a half mark.

Clay placed his hands on George’s upper legs and lifted him gently to carry him up the stairs to his room, the moment he reached the top of the stairs he saw Sapnap leaving his room, Nick didn’t need to say anything because his smirk gave it all away. Dream sighed, “No, I know what you’re thinking, unthink it.”.

Sapnap’s smirk only grew, “If you say so, _lover boy_.”.

Dream gave his friend an unimpressed glare before he proceeded to push open his bedroom door and he set down George on the mattress. George gave out a soft mewl at the loss of contact and Clay felt his heartstrings tug just a little as he turned to leave the room.

Nick was still out in the hallway, typing something on his phone with a grin akin to the Cheshire cat spread onto his face. “Who’s the lucky person?”.

The Texan seemed a little surprised and he looked up to face Dream, “Just updating the group chat.”.

“What group chat?”

“Oh ya know, the DNF shippers group chat.”

Dream rubbed his eyes, hoping that maybe if he woke up from this hallucination Sapnap wouldn’t be so weird. To no avail Nick still stood smirking so maniacally he seemed like a guilty criminal, Clay sorrowfully faced his friend “Ok, fine tell me. Who is in the DNF shippers chat?”.

“Aw, just me and my fiancés as well Bad and Skeppy. They’re rooting for you, I gotta give them hourly updates too. It’s great.”

Clay let out a groan, “Why are you like this?”.

“Don’t pretend you don’t love me come on.”

“Well, when you do weird shit like this I really have to reconsider.”

“Love you too, gotta go update the boys Karl’s getting antsy.”

“Fine, goodnight Sap.”

“Night’.”

Dream found himself going back to the living room, not bothering with changing into his PJ’s, just taking off his sweater to get comfortable.

He knew the couch would be uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to force himself on George, he wanted his British friend to like him. Clay couldn’t stand the idea of George finding him clingy, so he set off downstairs to give George a bit of distance.

Dream moved the popcorn bowl off the couch and settled in with the fuzzy blanket, sleep didn’t come easily but he still slept well and that was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls comment any ideas bc this fic is really just freeform and I kinda need the inspiration. Thx for reading another chapter tho! Also shout out to Grammarly my lord and saviour.


	4. Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George makes some crepes with his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments on the last chapter this one is from a prompt recommended by @ameliewastaken.  
> I'm probs gonna be updating this weekly if I can. Thx for all the support so far!

George woke up slowly with his face shoved into some pillows, he stretched out to gather his bearings, quickly realizing that he was stretched out in Clay’s bed with no signs of Clay in it. George was a little disappointed that the blond hadn’t been curled up beside him, he liked the musky smell and calmness that the other’s presence brought.

The Brit turned onto his side and found that he was still in yesterday’s clothes, his phone now digging into his chest at a weird angle, as it had fallen out of his pocket in the night. George rolled back onto his spine, picking up his phone to check the time, the blue screen flickered on to show it was quarter to ten.

He scrolled through Twitter for a couple of minutes, reading updates from his friends and catching up on whatever drama he missed from the day before. His timeline was a mess of Tales of the SMP jokes and Dreamnotfound fanart.

George found himself amused that the artists were so close to capturing Dream’s likeness; the same green/gold eyes and the same smirk George had fallen for. Pride bubbled up in him, he had seen something almost no one else had seen. He felt that he was now in on a secret after seeing Clay’s face, the rest of the world would have to imagine and piece together what he looked like whereas George knew.

George smiled to himself as he put down his phone and got up for the day, throwing on a blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans before making his way downstairs.

The kitchen stove read 10 o’clock in its neon green numbers, even though the time read that it was late in the morning, there was nothing else to show for it. There was no morning sunlight, no signs of life in the house as it was still dead silent.

George went over to the living room and peaked his head behind a curtain, surveying the land outside. The sky looked angrier than it had the day before, there was no rain at the present moment, but the wind was still harsh. Large branches and leaves swirled around in circles on the pavement of the front driveway, it looked like a scene from a kids tv show with the leaves spinning into what would’ve been miniature tornadoes.

The leaves would pick up and then drop suddenly like the wind wasn’t sure where it wanted to take them. George closed the curtain and turned around to see a sleeping Clay curled up on the couch, wrapped tightly in the same fuzzy blanket the smaller boy had used the day prior. The Brit couldn’t help the small smile he felt across his cheeks, Dream looked so small in his dormant state, a nice contrast to how big and masculine he looked while awake.

Dream stirred a little and George felt like he had been caught, the little moment of admiration was gone. Clay mumbled something unheard in a groggy tone, “Well good morning to you too Dream,”.

“What time is it?” Clay asked as he sat upright, letting the blanket fall off his chest, the realization just now hitting George that Clay was very much shirtless.

“It’s uh... It’s around 10 in the morning right now, why did you sleep on the couch?”

“Because you were in the bed.” The tone Dream talked in made it seem like it was an obvious fact that George was just clueless to. It suddenly clicked for the older of the two that he hadn’t walked up to bed himself, that he fell asleep on the couch, putting two and two together he realized Dream must have carried him up again.

“Why didn’t you just join me?”

“Georgie, everything is good in moderation, I don’t want you to get addicted to meeeee.”

 _I already am_ , George thought. “Oh, come on are you saying _homies_ can’t sleep in the same bed?” George inwardly cringed at how straight he sounded, _wow cover up a crush by turning into a frat boy, nice one George_.

His panic was cut short seeing as Clay burst out into a bout of wheezing, seeming to finally shake off the sleep.

“Oh my fucking God George, did you just say _homies_? Homies?!?” Dream nearly screamed as he poorly imitated George’s thick accent.

“Stop it, I already hate myself for it.”

“Oh but Gogy- my homie…”

“Quit it.”

A sly smirk painted itself on Clay’s face, pulling the corners of his mouth into a line. He opened his mouth as was abruptly interrupted.

“Are my _homies_ having a party without me?” Sapnap cooed, walking into the living room and seamlessly joining into the banter.

“Drop it.”

“Nah we’re gonna have to tweet about this.” Dream joked, earning a small glare from George.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Are you so sure?”

Sapnap and Dream shared a shit-eating grin, watching as George tried to reason with the two but to no avail. The three joked around for another ten minutes before Dream’s stomach rumbled loud enough to interrupt Nick mid-conversation. “Waffles?” Nick suggested.

“But we had those yesterdaaaaay…” Whined George.

“What, so you didn’t like them?”

“No, they were great, I just don’t want waffles two days in a row.”.

“Ha, well if that’s how you feel, feel free to make your own breakfast then.” Nick scoffed.

“I can make breakfast,” Dream piped in, getting up off the couch and walking to pick up his sweater from where he had dropped it the night prior.

“No.” Nick and George said simultaneously. Nick said no as he knew what happened when Clay cooked as it often left the kitchen in shambles, setting off smoke alarms and magically getting the food anywhere but on the plates, that it was meant to be on.

George said no because of what Clay had mentioned to him the day before, Dream was an admittedly bad cook and George knew his friend, he knew the other would keep trying until he got it right.

“If George doesn’t want waffles, he can make his own breakfast, Clay you can help him alright?”

“Alright.” Dream sounded a little defeated and George thought it was a bit adorable how badly the bigger boy wanted to cook for them, his cute tone was a trap and George knew it but it didn’t stop him from turning to Clay. “Well if you’re going to help me you can choose what we’re going to make.”.

“What about pancakes?”

“Sure.”

Nick left the room on his phone, and the remaining pair headed towards the kitchen. “Can I just grab a quick shower before we start?” The way Dream said it made him sound much more like an angsty teen, George found it a little amusing.

“Sure it will give me a little time to figure out where all the stuff is.”

Surely Clay left the room and George heard the running water a few moments afterwards. George took his time figuring out the kitchen, learning that the dry goods were kept in a cabinet to the left of the fridge, that the pots and pans were kept under the counter in a cabinet to the right of the sink.

The Brit set up two bowls for the wet and dry ingredients, he took measuring cups from their spots on the shelves and began the process of making the pancake batter. He had seen a box of pancake mix but decided that the recipe he had memorized would be worth the extra work.

George heard the smooth sound of running water squeak to a halt and assumed that Clay would be down to help soon enough. He set out the ingredients he needed in a series of small bowls, checking to make sure he had all the necessary parts before he started.

He did a quick mental run-through of the list (A/N this is an actual crepe recipe):

  * 1 cup of flour
  * 2 eggs
  * ½ cup of milk
  * 1 teaspoon vanilla
  * ½ cup of water
  * 2 tablespoons of melted butter



Once satisfied with his ingredients the brunet poured the eggs and milk together, whisking in the vanilla and water in shortly after. As he lifted the bowl of wet ingredients up, ready to pour, George felt two strong hands wrap around his waist.

“I thought you wanted my help,” Clay grumbled in a low tone, sending shivers up George’s spine as he was hugged from behind. The pitch of his voice igniting something in George, making his face the colour of a tomato.

“Well you were in the shower so I thought I could start without you and that you could flip them in the pan or something.”

“No I want to properly help, let me stir at least. Please?”

“Sure, take this bowl and pour it into this one with the flour.”.

Dream leaned over George, removing his hands from the smaller boy’s waist but staying close behind him. Placing his arms on top of George’s shoulders, he reached over and took the two bowls from George’s hands, pouring the milky mixture into the flour.

It was the last straw to pull down George’s calm facade, he panicked as he felt the heat of Clay’s body behind his, George felt as though his stomach twisted as he looked back to glance at the other. Clay’s hair was still very wet from the shower and he smelled so good, like a deep vanilla scent that George couldn’t quite place.

The tank top Dream had on also didn’t save much for the imagination, his toned arms bare for George to see, with that said Clay was surprisingly muscular, in George’s mind he really was a dream.

“What’s next?”

George scrambled for words, trying to get out a comprehensible sentence even though it felt like too big a task. “Um…Uh I have to whisk it together, you should… Uh, go warm up the butter.” Dream dropped his head onto George’s shoulder, his hands resting on the marble countertop in front of them, trapping George in place.

“How much butter? I’m starving.”

“2 Tablespoons please.”

Clay removed his hands and freed George, turning curtly to go warm up the butter as asked leaving George to calm down slightly. The brunet shifted through a drawer of utensils and found a metal whisk, he heard the soft metallic sounds of the fridge and microwave in the background, he tried to focus on whisking but his muscles failed him. George still had Jelly for bones as he tried to whisk the batter, and of course, Dream noticed as swiftly appeared behind him again with the small bowl of liquid butter.

“George, I may be a hopeless cook but please I know how to whisk better than that.” The taller boy scoffed as he placed his hands on top of George’s, gripping the whisk in one hand and the side of the bowl in the other.

“Let me help you.” The sentence was more of a statement than a question as it reached George’s ears, the small boy was more than happy to oblige as he melted back into the touch.

George gave a small nod and watched as Clay began beating the mixture together. Tilting to bowl just slightly so he could stir better. The batter slowly became smooth as Dream whisked it together, George removed his own hands and just stood watching the blond whisk methodically as he stood sandwiched in between.

In George’s opinion, it was too early in the morning to be contemplating your feelings for your best friend. The warm fuzzy feeling in his chest was disrupted as thunder boomed outside, shaking the house ever so slightly, George had once again forgotten about the threat of a tropical storm.

The rumble of the thunder made George freeze; Clay let out a stifled laugh as he continued showing off.

“I-I think you’re done, it looks smooth…You melted the butter right?”

“Gogy I didn’t know you were scared of thunder.” Clay backed off the awkward position he was standing at and gave George some breathing room, the Brit had a resurgence of confidence that came with room to breathe.

“I’m really not, it just caught me off-guard. Pass the butter over Blondie.”

“Aw, mean Gogy is back, I liked awkward chef George while he lasted.” Dream let a small pout draw itself upon his lips.

“What the fuck are you on.”

Dream softly chuckled in response; “I don’t even know what I was trying to say.”.

George gave the other a confused look before focusing on the task at hand, slowly pouring the warm butter into the smooth batter, whisking gently.

“Can you grab a pan please?”

“On it,” Clay said as he got the black pan and set it on top of the stovetop element. He set it down then moved over to take a seat, pulling out one of the stools on the other side of the counter that acted as a bar. He watched as George worked away at the pancakes. George knew Clay was watching and with his back turned away from him he asked, “Do you want to cook them?”.

“No, I want to watch instead.”

The Brit lightly chuckled at the other's honesty, he admired the other’s tendency to give into child-like curiosity.

George gently took a pat of butter from a dish and let it melt and sizzle on the pan, he brought his bowl of batter beside the burner, he quickly rummaged through the drawer of utensils until he saw a ladle. Dream watched curiously as George scooped out the batter onto the pan with practiced ease.

After pouring the batter George would run the bottom of the ladle over the mixture, letting it spread wide on the pan, it was hypnotizing to Dream. “Why is everyone a master chef around here, I thought we were streamers.”.

“Well not all of us make enough money to live off of uber eats.”

“That’s not- I don’t… You suck did you know that?”

George was a little proud of himself for getting Clay to stutter on his words, it felt like a payback for the last two days.

“You love me, don’t deny it.” George had the upper hand in this conversation and loved it. He looked over and saw Dream watching him intently, if Dream wanted to watch him cook then George would put on a show.

“Oh, Gogy don’t flatter yourself,” Dream said as he started laughing in a low manner, like a manly giggle.

George scoffed at the other as he placed his hand on the edge of the pan and flicked his wrist, letting the pancake slip up into the air and then catching it again with the pan, just like Clay had seen on TV hundreds of times.

“Ok, I may or may not like you more for that cool flip.”

“They say the easiest way to a man’s heart is through food, I didn’t think making crepes would in you over so easily!”

“You didn’t win me over you just impressed me.”

George scoffs again as he focuses on sliding the crepe onto another plate, starting the next one with the same practiced ease he had demonstrated the first time. The same steps are repeated another 10 times, pour the crepe, let it cook until bubbles arise, flip and plate.

As the last pancake is cooking George quickly cleans up all the dishes, then turns off the heat prematurely as the pan was still warm enough to cook on its own. He shifts it onto the plate and like clockwork, the lights of the house flicker, once, twice, a third time, before they shut off leaving the kitchen in darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple of chapters are probs gonna be from the comments on the last chapter, I really wanted to write some of them out. Thx for reading, love y'all!


	5. A Storm and It's Reward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What to do when the lights go out? Boardgames and romance obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be uploaded on Friday but I kinda love it and didn't want to wait until then so here:
> 
> Also thanks for all the positive comments u guys r the best- happy reading.

In the darkness of the kitchen, George froze, thinking quietly to himself that the lights would flicker on soon enough. The newfound silence and darkness of the kitchen were overwhelming in contrast to the atmosphere it had been five minutes prior as the room had been flooded with bright yellow light and the sound of sizzling pancakes.

The only thing George could hear was his own soft breathing accompanied by the harsh sounds of rain on the roof of the house, making the storm all the much scarier.

“Hey, George?” Dream asked, breaking George’s internal monologue.

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna go get some candles ok?”

“Um…Alright.”

Clay picked up on the anxious tone in the other’s voice. “Do you want me to stay?” he asked.

“No, no just hurry up… I want a little light to eat my pancakes in.” George said, trying to sound casual- _like he wasn’t absolutely terrified that a fucking storm had just cut the lights_.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a sec.”

George heard Dream’s footsteps out of the room and then he was alone, he stood in the silence of the darkroom letting his eyes adjust, the soft glow from the curtains became more prominent and George walked over to see the storm.

Reeling back one of the grey curtains George saw that the clouds were furious-looking, rolling through the sky and pouring down sheets of rain. The streetlights had turned on, shining down onto the rushing water making the terrifying visual clearer to see. The only road in eyesight was acting as a shallow river as the rainwater had almost submerged it, forcing all cars to push through it like George imagined a snow plough would.

The clouds were a colour in between a dark gray and midnight blue, letting little-to-no sunlight into the atmosphere. In any other circumstance, George thought that he may have liked awe of the storm, but instead, he felt suffocated by it. He felt trapped.

George was watching the storm outside so intently he was brought back to reality as a wave of rain pelted the window and startled the Brit.

George staggered backwards reaching his hands out, looking for purchase, something to ground him. But sure enough, Clay returned, “Woah, are you ok there George? You look a little spooked.”

“I hate storms.”

Clay began to set up some of the candles he had been holding, placing them on the countertop in the kitchen and walking over to repeat by setting them up on the coffee table. “Yeah, they can be rough, I think they’re kind of relaxing thought.”

“No, you don’t get it like I _hate_ , hate them.”

“Are you scared of the weather?”

“Why aren’t you?!?” George exclaimed, his voice heightened, his hold over his tone was slipping and he just tried to make sure Dream wouldn’t be able to notice.

“I dunno, I think they’re a bit soothing, storms aren’t permanent either. They’ll pass Gogy.”

“No, they are in no way soothing, it’s absolutely terrifying, it makes me feel so small and helpless. I can’t make it go away, storms are ruthless, they don’t have feelings, they don’t have worries they just break everything.”

Clay held the flickering lighter up to the last candle, he let the wick light before he turned to face George. “I grew up here George, storms are just one of those things that you have to learn to love. When the storm ends, the rain will have watered all the plants, the waves at the beach will be huge for surfers, all the dead leaves will have fallen off their trees.”

Dream paused to give George a soft smile, he saw almost immediately that his little pep talk was not giving the desired effect and calming the smaller boy down but instead stressing George out more.

“Ok look, if storms freak you out we can just ignore it, you can eat your pancakes and I can get Sapnap and we can play board games all day. Sound good?”

George nodded, a little embarrassed he had to be a burden to his friend. He let a small smirk spread across his face, “No more Uno, you guys always cheat.”

“Gogy you were literally the one who wanted to play on discord, it’s not our fault the colourblind person picked the game about sorting colours!”

“I thought there were only three different colours, I thought it was just blue, red and yellow!”

Clay let out a hearty chuckle, “Sure dumbass, I’ll see if Nick is up for monopoly.”

As they agreed, Dream went to get Sapnap and George was able to take a seat and pick through some of his pancakes.

He didn’t eat much seeing as he was startled out of his appetite, he ate a small pancake and found himself content.

Around five minutes after, George’s eyes began to adjust to the new lighting of the room and he found that the scented candles Clay set up were proving very useful in navigating the house. Sapnap and Dream walked in chuckling, laughing about something George wasn’t able to hear.

Nick walked over behind George and gave him a firm pat on the back, “Ready to lose George?” he said as he leaned in showing a cheeky grin.

George smirked in response, “You’re going down”.

The three had a day of board games, Sapnap making up words in scrabble, George blaming his losses on colour-blindness (while playing crazy eights where he should have been able to see the suits of the cards), and Clay rigging monopoly so that the other two went instantly bankrupt once they landed on his properties.

“HIPPITY HOPPITY YOU LANDED ON MY PROPERTY!!!” Dream screeched as he leaned over to sweep away all of Sapnap’s money.

“You bitch! This is why everyone on the SMP thinks you’re manipulative!” he retorted. Making both Clay and George fall into a fit of laughter.

The board games were only stopped once for lunch and the games were resumed immediately afterwards, picking up where they left off.

Dream was right, it was much easier to play boardgames and forget about the tropical storm than it was to just cower and hide from the noises. The competitive boardgames came to a halt after six hours of aggressive cheating and excessive bickering.

The heavy rain stopped at 5 in the afternoon, the storm was not over but the worst of it had passed George was so relieved, it felt like nature had chosen to mercy them. Allowing a brief grace period where the sky was dark without the violent rumble of the thunder.

Nick must have seen the way George peered at the sky, “I think the rain won’t come back until around sunset, we can go down to the beach or something if you’re tired of being cooped up.”

George shot him a skeptical look, “You sure?”

“George, I don’t control the weather, but I think you’ll be fine. Besides you have big strong Dream to protect you from the rain.”

Dream gave a light huff, “Who said I’m going to be his body shield?”

“I think it’s kind of a given at this point.” The Texan replied.

“Oh yeah? Why don’t we get Karl over here and see what happens then?”

“Can we?!?” Nick said which a childlike hope in his voice.

“Go for it, I thought you already would’ve asked him.”

“No, but I have to now!”

With that Sapnap turned and abruptly took out his phone to dial Karl’s number, George chuckled a bit as he realized that the other had memorized Karl’s number. It reminded him of his own relationship with Dream, how they were always eager to talk to each other.

Karl picked up the phone on the other end and Nick walked away smiling as he explained to his friend like a little kid asking for a sleepover, George often forgot how much the five-year difference affected his younger friend. Nick acted and kept up a conversation maturely with George, but in reality, he was barely an adult. 

“Do you want to go see the beach?” Dream asked pulling the brunet’s attention back to him.

He continued, “It’s only like a ten-minute walk and I know you haven’t had the chance to see it since the weather has been pretty bad, if we go now we could probably catch the sunset.”

“Sure” George replied, accompanied by a head nod.

They moved towards the door and Dream slipped on his flip-flops and turned to look at the Brit, “Are you wearing that?” he asked looking puzzled.

“Yeah, why?” George said a bit defensively.

Clay chuckled in a rumbly tone, “Skinny jeans and sand aren’t a good mix.”

George mentally cursed at himself for not thinking of it sooner, “Oh, um… I’ll throw on some shorts.”

He ~~scurried~~ -near sprinted up the stairs.

“Take your time!” Dream yelled after him smiling.

George quickly threw on some camo print shorts, he went back down the stairs, leaning on the banister to slip on the flip flops he retrieved from his suitcase.

“Good to go?” Clay asked with a chuckle.

“Should we wait for Sapnap to get off the phone with Karl?”

“Nah he’ll be on call for like an hour or so, he can meet us there.”

“Oh, ok. Lead the way then.”

Clay opened the front door and let the wall of humid air flood into the hallway, he beckoned George to the front, “After you Georgie.”.

The Brit nodded and walked out, Clay closed the door and set off to lead George down a series of streets and sidewalks. The two snaked into ‘shortcuts’ between buildings, startling seagulls deep in dumpsters. The pavement was still damp and there were wet leaves scattered everywhere but as Clay led George around with a small smile, nature’s wraith didn’t seem so scary to the older boy anymore.

The two came to a wooden boardwalk off the road and Dream hopped onto it, he smiled as he turned and extended his hand to George, George made a mental note to save the memory. The brunet took the blonde’s hand and was pulled onto the oak-plank walkway. The path stood two feet above the tall grass and weed-ridden sand, allowing the two to walk to the roaring waves without getting caught in the plants.

George let Dream pull his hand along as they raced on the wood, the sounds of their flip-flops along the wood became drowned out as they approached the ocean.

When the boardwalk came to an end the Brit was able to take in the shoreline, the beach was completely empty without all the tourists George had expected to see sunbathing or surfing. The waves themselves were dark and violent, growing to nearly 10 feet above the sea line before crashing back into one another. In the evening light, the abandoned beach looked like something pulled from an animated movie.

The scene was breathtaking, and George only realized he had frozen on the spot when Clay nudged his shoulder, whispering loudly into his ear “This isn’t even the best part.”

George forgot he was holding the other’s hand as Clay began to drag him through the wet sand towards a set of white-painted stairs leading up to a small platform. The tower looked similar to a lifeguards tower except it was another 2 flights of spiral stairs into the sky.

“You want me to go up there?” George said as he put two and two together.

“Yeah, you won’t believe the view.”

“Dream why are the railings up there so small?”

“Georgie if you fall from up there you’re landing on sand, it’s safe, come on.”

Clay walked up to the first step of the while tower, gently pulling the other towards himself without much force so George could breakaway if he wanted to.

“Fine but don’t pretend to push me or anything, I swear if you do I might just throw you off myself.”

Dream smirked in return, “Wouldn’t _dream_ of it.”

George huffed and walked closer, reluctant to step on the first stair, Dream tugged his hand forward “I’ve got you, Georgie.”

The pair slowly scaled the stairs as Clay held George’s hand reassuring him and nodding him on every time the brunet paused. Once they reached the top of the creaking metal stairs Dream let go of George’s hand and the smaller boy grasped onto the railing in awe of the scene before him. George knew what Dream meant; this was the best part.

The view was gorgeous, the way that the bright pallet of colours melted seamlessly into the dark overhead clouds, as the sun slipped into the sea the remaining bits of sky shined a lovely tangerine colour, it was picturesque. Even though George couldn’t totally appreciate the colours of the sky, he figured that they were such an intensity that it would have been amazing no matter what they were.

“Wow.”

Clay walked up behind him and set his chin to rest on George’s head. He hummed softly, sending a blush to crawl over the smaller boy’s face.

“It’s my favourite part about storms, they leave the prettiest sunsets.”

George couldn’t help but agree, this was a beautiful sight and perhaps it was worth the scare of ground shaking thunder.

He took a deep breath in and breathed in the salty smell of the ocean and the musky smell of Clay, the lingering smell of a tropical storm, it pained him that this smell was all he ever wanted to smell, it also pained George knowing that this closeness was all he wanted from Clay and that this was all Clay wanted to give.

It was a sour fact that settled oddly in George’s bones, knowing that what he wanted was so close to what he had, he wanted to be closer to Clay than a hug would allow.

It hurt to know it was just out of his reach, but there, standing on the watchtower, it felt like enough.

A/N Tower that I tried to describe (<https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A5W3PF/viewing-tower-in-vilsandi-national-park-island-of-saaremaa-estonia-A5W3PF.jpg>)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, next chapter should be around next Friday, thanks for all the positivity and support.  
> Love yall !
> 
> Also I have decided Grammarly is working against me, why are grammar editors always wrong? Like no, I mean Dream with a capital D not dream thank you very much.


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